Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Part 2 (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 sqft	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 sqft	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Jan. 17, 2013 sqft	Mar. 09, 2012 sqft	Feb. 10, 2012 sqft	May 18, 2011	May 01, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-term Cash Incentive [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 2010 Equity Plan [Member]	May 01, 2010 2010 Equity Plan [Member]	May 12, 2011 2011 Employee Inducement Award Plan [Member] Restricted Shares [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parkway Properties Office Fund I, LP [Member] sqft	Dec. 31, 2011 Parkway Properties Office Fund I, LP [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parkway Properties Office Fund II, LP [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Parkway [Member] Parkway Properties Office Fund II, LP [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 TRST [Member] Parkway Properties Office Fund II, LP [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 2100 Ross, B Piece [Member] sqft
Mortgage Loans Receivable [Abstract]
Carrying amount of mortgage loans receivable	$ 0				$ 1,500,000				$ 0	$ 1,500,000
Non-cash impairment loss on mortgage loan receivable									0	9,235,000	0
Area of real estate property (in square feet)	11,900,000								11,900,000			260,000	337,000	300,000												844,000
Original investment in mortgage loan																										6,900,000
Noncontrolling Interest [Line Items]
Number of consolidated joint ventures	1				2				1	2
Noncontrolling interest percentage (in hundredths)																						25.00%	30.00%
Cumulative preferred return threshold for pro rata cash distributions (in hundredths)																							9.00%
Distribution percentage to partners (in hundredths)																								44.00%	56.00%
Term of the fund																							7 years 0 months 0 days
Number of term extension provisions																							2
Length of extension term																							1 year 0 months 0 days
Number of properties under agreement to sell																					13
Area of property under agreement to sell (in millions of square feet)																					2,700,000
Gross sales price of assets under agreement to sell																					344,300,000
Number of assets under agreement that have completed sale																					13
Revenue Recognition [Abstract]
Increase in revenue from lease rent adjustment									15,400,000	6,000,000	1,400,000
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of shares authorized for issuance (in shares)																600,000			600,000	149,573
Term of equity plan	10 years 0 months 0 days								10 years 0 months 0 days									10 years 0 months 0 days
Period of performance goals																	3 years 0 months 0 days
Income Taxes [Abstract]
REIT annual taxable income distribution requirement (in hundredths)									90.00%
Deferred income tax liability	2,000,000				14,300,000				2,000,000	14,300,000					14,800,000
Numerator [Abstract]
Basic and diluted net loss attributable to common stockholders	$ (51,713,000)	$ (582,000)	$ (948,000)	$ 1,994,000	$ (59,763,000)	$ (55,738,000)	$ (14,673,000)	$ (6,782,000)	$ (51,249,000)	$ (136,955,000)	$ (8,943,000)
Denominator [Abstract]
Basic and diluted weighted average shares (in shares)									31,542,000	21,497,000	21,421,000
Basic and diluted net loss attributable to Parkway Properties, Inc.									$ (1.62)	$ (6.37)	$ (0.42)